it could be worse

so we have the pestilence here. two people have managed to avoid this stomach bug thus far- max and franky. last night, as i was facing the harsh reality of a house sweeping bug i began to despair. "this stinks" i said to myself. then the oft spoken words of my husband materialize in my thoughts. it could be worse. he's an optimist- one of the very many reasons why i love him. so for lack of a better thing to do between bathroom trips, i play the "it could be worse" game. this is a game i've started playing with my oldest and most pessimistic child. it's designed to show him to be grateful for what God presents to us and also to help him to think humorously and lightheartedly about life. we take turns trying to outdo each other in thinking of the most outrageous and ridiculous ways that our present situation could be worse.
so how could last night have been worse? let's see...the baby could be 3 weeks old instead of 6. a night of retching could have been followed by packing up the cars and trailer and starting the first leg of our journey to relocate our family 3000 miles across the continent. the virus could sweep through the whole caravan right before our car breaks down between yuma and phoenix in the middle of july prompting us to consolidate all that we hold dear into two cars and two trailers.
oh, wait. this isn't hypothetical. it actually happened.
so, as i go about my day, with it's ever mounting loads of laundry i'm reminded that it could always be worse, and i remember to thank the good Lord that it's not.